WPIAL Softball Playoff Recaps for Wednesday, May 16th

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, May 16, 2012 | 10:46 PM

Ten more games were played on Wednesday in the opening round of the 2012 WPIAL Softball Playoffs with six Class AAA and four Class AA Round One matchups. Here are recaps from half of those games, including a pair of wins by MSA Sports Hometown Broadcasts teams.

A special thanks to Josh Rowntree, Mike Azadian, Bob Gregg, Jess Levo and Jason Tennant for their help on these recaps.

WPIAL CLASS AAA FIRST ROUND:

Ambridge Bridgers 9 – Ellwood City Wolverines 0 
Unfortunately for Ellwood City, the third time was, most definitely, not the charm. #1 Ambridge (17-2) scored six runs in the 6th inning, propelling the Bridgers to a 9-0 win over section-mate #16 Ellwood City (7-11) in the first round of the AAA softball playoffs at Seneca Valley High School on Wednesday afternoon. The win was the third for Ambridge over Ellwood City this season, having outscored the Wolverines 24-6 in those three wins. Needing to play a flawless game in order to win, Ellwood City did just the opposite, committing nine errors, including five in the 6th inning. Ellwood City did hang tough for five innings, trailing only 3-0 heading into the 6th. But the five errors, combined with timely hitting by Ambridge in an inning that brought 10 batters to the plate, would put the game out of reach. The Wolverines could only manage six hits off of Bridgers' ace Hannah Smith, who struck out seven and throwing a complete game shutout. Offensively, the story for Ambridge was freshman Kelly Haslett, who went 3/4 and drove in five runs. Ellice Platz scored three runs and three other players combined for multiple hits of off Ellwood City pitscher Kara Sainato, who gave up only 2 earned runs in the game. Ellwood City was led by Francesca Nardone, who went 2/4. Ambridge, who have lost the last two WPIAL AAA Championship games, move on to the Quarterfinals where they will meet #9 Elizabeth Forward on Monday at a site and time to be determined.

Elizabeth Forward Warriors 5 – Indiana Little Indians 4  
At Hempfield High School in WPIAL girls AAA first round playoff action, the Elizabeth Forward Warriors beat the Indiana Little Indians 5-4. Both teams struggled on offense thru the first 4 innings with a combined 4 hits and 4 left on base. Defense ruled as each infield made tremendous plays highlighted by the Indians 3b Holli Sottile who came up big with big throw to nab a runner in the 2nd inning to stop a rally. The scoring started in the 4th inning as Indiana's Kaitlyn Palmer led off the with a long HR to left center field to give the Indians  a 1-0 lead. It remained that way until the 5th  when EF scored 3 runs on 2 hits and an error. The big blow was a 2 RBI double by Jen Keefer, and a 2 out RBI double by Kelsey Havel to make it 3-1 Warriors. EF would tack two very important runs on in the 6th. A lead off single by Virginia Roche followed by a bunt by Portia Mcbride that no one fielded put two runners on. Jen Welsh bunted  but the Indians first baseman bobbled the ball and missed a swipe tag and the bases were loaded. Those two mistakes would cost the Indians. Two sacrifice Fly RBI in a row then made it 5-1 Warriors headed to the top of the 7th. The Indians led off with a single by Alexis Tshudy, then two pop ups. With two outs Palmer crushed her 2nd HR of the game to make it 5-4. Marissa Almendinger hit a long fly ball to deep center field but it was caught at the fence to end the game. Elizabeth Forward improves to 14-6 and will face the number one seed Ambridge Bridgers next week on a day and time to be announced. McBride gets the win for EF, going 7 innings, giving up 4 runs on 8 hits, 6 strikeouts , and 1 walk. Indiana ends their season at 12-7. Hannah Harley took the loss for the Indians going 6 innings, giving up 5 runs on 7 hits, 3 strikeouts and 2 walks.

Montour Spartans 12 – New Castle Red Hurricane 2  
On Tuesday the New Castle Red Hurricane won their first playoff game in school history. Montour was determined to make them wait for their second. The #2 Spartans (14-5) scored four runs in the 1st, 4th and 5th innings, defeating #15 New Castle 12-2 in less than five innings of play in the first round of the WPIAL AAA softball playoffs on Wednesday at Seneca Valley High School. Shining for Montour was star pitcher Kaitlyn Kutchman, who struck out nine of the first 12 outs she posted. Additionally, Kutchman got it done with the bat, going 3/3 with two doubles and a walk, bringing home one run and scoring three times. Seven different Spartans recorded a hit off of New Castle pitcher Alyea Cioffi in a game that had its completion threatened by off-and-on rain and poor field conditions. Stacey Capp also scored three runs for the Spartans, who will face the defending WPIAL Champion #10 Yough Cougars in a rematch of last years AAA semifinal game, which Yough won 3-1. In two games this season, Montour outscored New Castle 26-2. The Red Hurricane received two hits from Lauren Pavia and RBIs from Dana Perotta and Aleigha Withrow. Cioffi struggled on the mound for New Castle, giving up 12 runs (11 of which were earned), 11 hits, eight walks and two hit batters, all in just 4.2 innings pitched. The good news for New Castle is that they've one of the youngest teams in the WPIAL, with only one senior and one junior on their roster. Montour though moves on to the Quarterfinals and will hope to win their fourth WPIAL Championship and first since their title run in 2010.

WPIAL CLASS AA FIRST ROUND:

Mohawk Warriors 5 – Burgettstown Blue Devils 2  
Mohawk weathered several early storms, then scored all of their runs in the final two innings to upset #5 Burgettstown, 5-2.  Down 2-0, the Warriors (13-7) took advantage of two hits and two Blue Devils' errors to score three times in the sixth.  Those runs came after Burgettstown failed to score despite having runners at second and third with one out in the home half of the fifth.  Mohawk put the game away with rbi hits from Shelby Brown and Rachelle Miller in the seventh.  Jaki Bender got the win, pitching out of jams in the first, third and fifth innings.  She held the Blue Devils (16-3) to six hits and one earned run.  Bryanna Lonick took the loss.  Miller had three hits on the day for Mohawk.  Devon Giancola had two.  Caitlyn Dengler drove in both Burgettstown runs with three hits on the day.  Rachael Charlier had two singles for the Blue Devils.

Greensburg Central Catholic Centurions 3 – Burrell Buccaneers 2 
Greensburg Central Catholic pitcher Anna Marie Gatti stormed back into her starting role today, making it known she and her team were there to stay in the playoffs.  The 7th-seeded Centurions (10-3, 12-6) defeated the 10th-seeded Burrell Buccaneers (8-4, 11-8) by a score of 3-2 at Hempfield High School in the first round of AA girls softball playoffs.  After missing the regular season due to injury, the Sophomore pitcher returned just in time for the playoffs, striking out 12 batters in 7 innings.  Starting pitcher for the Buccaneers, Julie Fisher, also had a fine performance, allowing 6 hits and 3 walks.  Gatti's outing would prove too much for the Buccaneer batters however, and the Centurions squeaked by with a W.  The first two innings went by quickly, with successful pitching and good defense on both sides.  In the top of the 3rd, Burrell's Morgan Mathews hit what would be the only extra-base hit for the Buccaneers, to get the inning started.  Allison Landowski brought Mathews home on a single.  Trouble started in the 4th inning for Fisher, with a lead-off walk to Nikki Adisey, hitting Julia Lang with a pitch, then Alie Perz singled to allow both girls to score.  In the 5th, the Centurions would plate their final run when  Karly Mellinger singled and stole a base, followed by another single from Perz.  Burrell was not done yet when they threatened in the final inning.  Devin Middleby singled, then made it to 2nd on a pass ball.  Fisher got the RBI with her single, but Gatti ended the game when she forced a pop-up to her shortstop, Adisey.  After the game, Gatti credited Adisey, the Centurions' pitcher for the regular season, for getting them to the playoffs.  Greensburg Central Catholic will face the 2-seed, Seton-LaSalle in the quarter-finals.

Mount Pleasant Vikings 7 – Waynesburg Raiders 6 
The Mount Pleasant Vikings won a wild one, having blown a 5-0 lead, only to eliminate Waynesburg in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the seventh.  A sour tone was set for the Raiders early on as the first three batters all reached base with an error, a strong double by Taylor Johnson, and a walk.  Waynesburg had the bases loaded with nobody out when Hannah Gibbons popped up a 3-1 pitch that nearly got out of play, but was caught by shortstop Whitney Thompson.  Then, a throw down to third by catcher Shayla Landman picked off Waynesburg's Emily Snee.  Add another popout in foul territory and the Raiders came up empty in the first.  Things went especially south for Waynesburg in the bottom of the second as Mount Pleasant would score five runs, mostly on errors and defensive miscues.  The Vikings got a few solid hits including Paige Hertzog's double off the wall that drove in a run, but the Raiders twice let balls fall between two or more fielders on plays that should have been made, and committed a couple of errors that helped extend the Vikings' inning.  The Raiders would then try to play catchup the rest of the game.  Gibbons got Waynesburg on the board with a solo homerun in the fourth.  Then in the fifth, with the bases loaded and two outs, Emily Luckey came through with a 2-run single that really made it a game.  Waynesburg pitcher Jordan Moore was nearly perfect for four innings after the dreadful second as she retired 11 staight Viking batters before allowing a 2-out single in the sixth.  Waynesburg was able to load the bases again in the top of the seventh after a walk, a Johnson single, and then a Gibbons walk after Moore grounded out to second.  Luckey had another shot at heroics, but pitcher Leigha Pehrson caught her looking at strike 3.  Waynesburg was down to their final out when pinch hitter Felicia Spitznogle came through in the clutch with a 2-run single to tie the game.  Ashleigh Brumley would follow with another single, which scored Gibbons and gave the Raiders their first lead of the game.  That lead was short-lived however as the Mount Pleasant bats came to life in the bottom of the seventh.  After Moore allowed her only walk of the game on four pitches to Heidi Kitta, Hertzog singled and Thompson beat out an infield single to load the bases with nobody out. Landman singled in Kitta to tie the game and Jocelyn Guda hit a walk-off single up the middle to score Hertzog and send the Vikings into the quarterfinals.  Heading into the seventh wIth only 1 hit since the second inning, Mount Pleasant won the game with four straight singles.  Pehrson got the win striking out 7 and allowing 5 walks.  Moore took the loss with 1 strikeout and 1 walk.